Boom Supersonic, the company that’s working on what it hopes will be the supersonic airliner of the fairly near future, has finished construction on the factory it says will eventually turn out 66 of its Overture airline a year. It’s located in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The project, which has seen years of delays, now has a 1/3-scale demonstrator, the so-called ‘Baby Boom’ which has completed several flight tests and has a special permit from the FAA for supersonic tests. The next steps include building a full-scale plane and completing development on the Symphony engine that is intended to power it. Boom says it hopes the plane can be in service by 2029.
Although the plane has orders from United and American and options have been taken by several other airlines, its future is still very much in doubt. The 1/3 model is radically different from the current design of the full-size, including a change from three to four engines. The company is developing its own engine after existing engine makers backed out because of capital cost.
There are some doubts as well over whether there is a realistic market for the 1,000 planes Boom believes it can sell. The plane would carry 64-80 passengers and would require fares at current business-class levels or greater. Also, because of range restrictions, trans-Pacific flights would require refueling.
